Tuesday 30 July 2013

Smell the flowers



An 8 x 8 inch canvas is  my project for the new challenge that begins today over at Try it on Tuesdays
The theme is ' Collage with a twist',  and it  must include some  script.


The base of my canvas is a rather busy collage.
Layers of spray paints over masks.
There is even a hand ready to pick the flowers.
I used some grunge paste through a mask at the top right corner. Leaving the mask in place till it was almost dry and then brushing with mica powders.
Next a bit of stamping, mainly Stampers Anonymous stamps on the background.
The final paint spray I used was  a Sprinkys colour-'Antique'  from Inkylicious., this added more depth to the colours I think.





On to adding a bit more interest in the way of some Jofy flowers [Paper Artsy].
 I have realy enjoyed using these stamps, the added bonus this time was that they already were printed with some writing.
I used distress inks to colour the flowers , spiced marmalade and mustard seed..
A little corrogated card was coloured picket fence and the flowers fussy cut before adding to the background .


I will be joining the fun at these challenges as well--
Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge which is Ode to Sunshine.
Divas by Design - Anything Goes
Crafts4eternity -Anything Goes


Thank you for stopping by, your comments are always appreciated.

Monday 29 July 2013

Blessings


A tag  is my project to share with you today.  
The main image is a digi stamp and as it printed out dark blue, I decided to use blues for my stamping and shading, Weathered Wood distress ink.


The die cut oval and one of the layers is random stamped  using a Penny Black flower stamp.
I used a paper crimping tool  for another layer, I did aim to leave this white, but it somehow connected with the open ink pad, so it was an easy job to swipe the surface with the ink pad and make it all look a bit distressed..
The lace trim just fitted down the side, how lucky was that.

There is still another week to enter our  latest challenge 'Make a Tag',  over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad.
 The beautiful country scene image is from our sponsor McMahon Five.



Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments.

Sunday 28 July 2013

The hero of the story is........




 With our new theme titled 'Script/Books/Pages.Print', starting today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges, I just had to make a Bookmark. 
Please pop over for all the details, read about our regular sponsor Flonzcrafts , also see how  my design team sisters have interpreted the theme.

After pasting a few pieces of torn book print on to my base layer, I sprayed it lightly  using  Dylusions Bubblegum pink and  Squeezed orange.   Stampers Anonymous quotes were added  down the side.
 The face and wording on her crown are also an stamps from this company.
Extra shading is Vintage Photo distress ink and a little glitter highlights the crown.
The flower tab that  locates the marker while it is keeping the page,  was made with  pieces from the  overflowing bits box.



Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments.

Saturday 27 July 2013

Lazy summer days.


Here we are already at the end on July and our last challenge of the month over at Sugar Creek Hollow.
This time the theme is 'Water, water everywhere',  make cards or other papercraft projects featuring  water, holidays, the beach, lighthouse,  ocean, boats etc. in our vintage/shabby chic style. Please pop over for all the details and see what we all made.


I decided to make this hanging.
The base is an old piece of card, which I coloured with acrylic paint and a blue dauber .
A few layers came from a Graphics 45 paper stack.
The stamped image and quote are Crafty Individual stamps.
I used Pans Pastels for extra shading and a sprinkle of seed beads just below the bathing belle.
I also added a pair of silver mules and a silver fish as a hair ornament.


Challenges I will join the fun in are-
Happy Campers -the current Challenge No 20  is Summer
Crafters Cafe   Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by I always appreciate your comments.

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Le Jardin


Another monthly swap  Fat page [ 4 x 4 inches] to show you today,  it is hard to believe we are almost at the end of July.
This is the page I made for August,.  Using mainly  Graphics 45 papers from the French Country stack  and trimmings from my stash.



On the right are the two tags that you can see behind
the image on the front . I do love adding hidden tags
to these pages.






This is how I layered up the reverse side.
The addition to the bow is a piece of an  earring.
A while ago a friend gave me a small bag of broken jewelry,  I have just recovered it from a safe place whilst looking for something else. Note to self I must tidy my workroom soon.








Hope you are all enjoying the heatwave we are having in the U.K. at the moment, never thought I would be wishing for it to be a little cooler.

The current challenge over at Country View Crafts is Summer Sizzler so I think I will pop over and join the fun.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate the comments you leave.

Sunday 21 July 2013

Time to dream





This tag seemed just to evolve from this piece of corrogated card, which had been sprayed   and inked with sprays and metalic paint. A further search in my pending box uncovered  this  image  from Paper Artsy.
Into the scraps box next for the die cut shapes, one had to be tucked  behind the image, goodness knows what I had used a quarter of this for.
The clock face  and ticket were intact so just needed the Vintage Photo distress ink treatment.


Tiny pieces of materials and lace can easily be found on my table, I am a hoarder and never throw stuff out, I even found a single metalic corner, now I have used it I may find the other three.

This is my last scheduled post from caravan land,  been enjoying the last week in Melrose a beautiful Border town in Scotland.


Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments and will catch up with you all soon.


Tuesday 16 July 2013

Home is where the heart is...........



'Home is where the heart is...'  is the new challenge theme begining today over at Try it on Tuesdays.
This wooden  hanging heart  was a bargain buy earlier this year for  a £1  in a Supermarket bargain bin.
The inside heart hangs freely from the rim,but it was easier to get the photos on a flat suface.
It started out a rather bright yellow and blue  which I painted  over  with cream acrylics.
You can still see a bit of the blue showing through when you look at it close up.
The outside  rim had a thin covering of crackle paint . When dry   I used a a crackle stamp  with metalic ink for a little more details  and a slight  rub down with  a little gold gilding wax.



The center  heart  on both sides was covered with papers and elements from the Graphics 45 French Country paper stack. I used Antique gold Frantage embossing powders to  accent the edges.
The wooden leaves were also painted with acrylics and rubbed with some gilding wax. The flowers came from my stash.

I do hope you will pop over to see what we made and share with us your take on this new theme.


Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your comment
. Please forgive me if I don't get to visit you all this week. we are taking advantage of the lovely weather here in the U.K. this week and are in Scotland in the caravan.

I have recently read about a new  challenge blog called Altered Eclectics , so I will be joining their first challenge with my altered hanging.

Monday 15 July 2013

Happy Birthday


I am loving using Graphics 45 papers at the moment, so here is yet another card made using them.
So together with some trimmings from my stash and the trusty vintage photo distress ink, I was able to make this card in record time for me.
Usually I have to ponder a bit about what to use, when making a card  for my friend who likes gardening, these Secret Garden papers were just right.

I also had in mind our  new challenge theme over at Crafty Cardmakers which is 'Birthday'.
We are celebrating a special event at Crafty Cardmakers, it is 4 years since our very first post was published.
Please pop over to see what we all made and get all the details, including the super prizes on offer from our sponsors -
Di's digi stamps and Hobby Art.

Thank you for stopping by I always appreciate your comments.

Sunday 14 July 2013

Have a Bloomin' Birthday


'Flora and Fauna',  is the next challenge theme over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges.
Now I know these flowers do not look like flowers we grow in our gardens, but these Jofy Stamps  from Paper Artsy sure make my daisies look a bit  special,  when they pop up in the lawn.
To be honest I do like these quirky stamps and use them quite a bit  for summery cards.



As you can see I made a simple easel card, with the stamped area layered up on some flowery papers.




The background colour is Mustard Seed distress ink, used very sparingly. I used Frantage embossing powder round the edges and corners. All shading of the images is watercolours.

Please pop over to FSC for all the details and see what my DT sisters have been making.

Thank you for yours comments which I always appreciate.

Saturday 13 July 2013

You're a Classic


'Things with Wheels' is the next challenge  at Sugar Creek Hollow.
 Our sponsor for this challenge  Doodle Pantry gave us some super images to use.
I  have used this great vintage car which went so well with the quote.
As you can see I made a simple  twisted easel shaped card.
 The background house and gardens was an image I had on my computer from a project made  ages ago.
Vintage photo distress ink helped the aged look around the distressed and torn edges.
I printed out an extra car image which I fussy cut before painting with water colours, it was raised on thin foam pads to give a bit of depth.

Please pop over for all the details and see what we have all been making.
Also thank you for stopping by to see my take on the theme.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Summer in July


I'm late in showing you my latest swap Fat Page for July, so here it is.



This is one side of the page, two tags  are tucked behind the ribbon. The stamps are mainly Jofy from Paper Artsy. The shading is Lemonade  distress ink and a pale green Pans Pastels. I used water colour pencils for the flowers and bird
To add a bit of interest to the edges I used  Aged Green Frantage  embossing powder.




On the right is a photo of the other side of the page.
I added a coat of clear gloss to the petals of the daisy.

I will be joining the challenge at Country View Crafts as the current challenge is Summer Sizzler.
Now it is so unusual for us to be having a few days in a row with sun, that I kind of think back to when I was a child, we always had sun in the summer back then [memories often play tricks on you]. Making daisy chains was another summer memory, do girls still make them I wonder.



Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments.

Monday 8 July 2013

The family album


A quick post to tell you about the new challenge  beginning today at the Cheerful Stamp Pad which is
'You make a lovely Couple'. Our sponsor,  Twisted Paper,  let us have some super vintage photos to work with.  Again I have been using my computer craft program to frame the images.
. I curved the photos so they looked like the leaves of a book,  before layering them onto the base layers. The look I was aiming for was an open page in the family album .

Thank you for stopping by I always appreciate your comments.

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Meg's Secret Garden


  Today over at Try it on Tuesdays we  see our first Challenge for July, which is 'Show us your Metal'.
We all had different ideas and I do hope you will pop over to see what we made.


I chose to alter this 4 slot mail slider, using papers from the Graphics 45 Secret Garden stack.
The front shows my additions of metal, a small frame, a couple of corners and a fancy metal trim under the blue bow..
The lace  you see on the photo above was  added before I stuck down  the  base papers , so I could tie the case closed when I finished. You could stop here now as this is my take on Show us your Metal.

But this project does have an inside, so please read on if you would like to see  more.





Inside, a shabby look with torn papers and yet more elements from the paper stack










 More Graphics papers to cover this part of the case.
I removed all the glass slides  and found that after adding the grunge paste they were never going to go back in.
The grunge paste had some Shabby Pink Frantage embossing powder added before it dried. An experiment to see what happened.
 I then decorated the centers with small bits and pieces.
  When dry .it was sprinkled with a tiny bit of Aged Gold and more Shabby Pink  Frantage powder and given the heat treatment.


This resulted in a look I was quite happy with, a bit distressed, especially when the embossing powders blew around the insets, on a mission all of their  own..
 Parts of the grunge paste bubbled up as the heat  activated the powders I'd added.
Now if you are wondering, I did add a little Vintage Photo distress ink to the edges on the out side of the  case, I just cannot seem to make anything that does not include one of my favorite products.
All it needed now was to tie up the lace bow  to hide the secrets inside Meg's Garden.


Thank you for taking time to read through all this post, I appreciate you stopping by.


Monday 1 July 2013

Happy Holiday


My second post for today is to tell you about the next challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers.
What could be better than a little sunshine and a restful peaceful lazy day [or more], watching the world go by and relaxing.
Well its good to have dreams, but I cannot sit in the sun, so it would have to be a shady spot and if it didn't involve a messy craft table near by, it would have to be a good book.
This card is made using Graphics 45 papers some trimmings from my stash and of course the Vintage Photo distress ink.
You will have guessed by now that our new theme is 'Holidays' please pop over for all the details and see what we have all been making. There is a super prize on offer from our sponsor Sir Stampalot..

Thank you for calling by again today, I realy appreciate your comments.

Make a wish


This is another card made for the current challenge over at The Cheerful Stamp Pad, the theme is, ''From the Past and there is still  another week to join in.
The image I used is one available from our sponsor Vintage Image Craft..
 Again, I imported it into my computer  craft program MCS, and had a play with the backgrounds.
A few layers and trimmings and here it is finished and ready to go flying off.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I appreciate all your comments.